This is a column of opinion and analysis by 13WMAZ's Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Randall Savage.
Reports of 243 percent voter turnout in Habersham County may not reach the level of President Trump's alleged fake news accounts.
But it's caused a lot of head scratching in the political arena while putting smiles on the faces of the election security group that filed a federal lawsuit against Georgia. In the suit, the group also questions the security of the state's elections.
According to the group's complaint, 670 people cast their ballots in Habersham's Mud Creek precinct during the May 22 primary election. Problem was, the group noted in their suit, there were only 276 registered voters in that precinct.
That information sweetened the pot for those who question the integrity of Georgia vote tallies because there aren't paper ballots to substantiate the count. They also complain that there are security problems that jeopardize election totals.
The alleged turnout data also provided the opening comments and paragraphs of news stories about the pending federal lawsuit.
But the story doesn't end there.
Habersham County is located in Georgia's northeast corner. The county seat is Clarksville where the board of elections is located.
After learning of a problem, Elections Supervisor Laurel Ellison put together a news release saying a typographical error resulted in erroneous voter information being sent to the Secretary of State's office.
"We learned today that an error was made in the reporting of the number of registered voters in the Mud Creek precinct during the May 22, 2018 General Primary Election," she said. "This typo, showing the incorrect number of registered voters, did not affect the vote count. The vote count was correct, and the percentage of voter turnout was also correct. This typographical error had no impact on the results of the election."
Ellison didn't disclose the exact number of registered voters in the Mud Creek precinct. But she did say "it has been corrected on the Secretary of State's Election results website." According to the website, there are 3,704 registered voters in the precinct.
Given those numbers, the percentage of Mud Creek voter turnout drops from a 243 percent to an 18 percent turnout.
It appears that tidbit diminishes the punch of the federal lawsuit and extinguishes the flame of early news accounts.
Trump would love this one.
